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Binance Staggers EU Sanctions Cutoffs for 14 Crypto Platforms

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Binance Staggers EU Sanctions Cutoffs for 14 Crypto Platforms

2026-08-14 14:04 UTCBy AlphaScala Research DeskSource reporting: CryipEditorial standards

Binance Staggers EU Sanctions Cutoffs for 14 Crypto Platforms

Binance cut off 16 platforms: two Iran-linked exchanges Aug. 7, then 14 EU-designated Russia-linked names split across Aug. 13 and 23, a split it didn't explain.

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Binance is suspending access to 16 crypto platforms over sanctions-related designations, with cutoffs spread across three dates from Aug. 7 to Aug. 23. The exchange told users Aug. 14 about the schedule, a week after the first two platforms on the list had already lost access.

The notice reads as a single compliance update. It actually folds two separate government actions into one page: a U.S. Treasury designation over Iran-linked exchanges and an EU sanctions package targeting Russia-linked platforms.

Two Iran-Linked Exchanges Lost Access the Day OFAC Designated Them

Shelbit and Aban Tether Exchange lost Binance access Aug. 7, the same day the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated them. Treasury said the exchanges moved money for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: OFAC-linked wallets sent more than $1 million to Shelbit addresses, and more than $2 million flowed back out to IRGC-controlled wallets. Aban Tether processed transactions tied to several other sanctioned Iranian exchanges.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would "hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat," whether the money moves in dollars, rials or crypto.

One EU Package, Split Into Two Batches

The other 14 names trace to a single EU action, the 21st Russia sanctions package adopted July 23. The package extends the bloc's transaction ban to 14 non-EU crypto platforms and, for the first time, gives the EU the power to impose a full third-country ban on crypto-asset services.

The EU named all 14 platforms on one date. Binance's first cutoff for the group came three weeks later, Aug. 13, covering A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa and PilotFinance Ltd. All three are tied to the A7A5 stablecoin network named in that package. An HTX representative said the exchange had already rejected an A7A5 listing application, saying the token failed the company's own due diligence review.

The remaining 11 took effect Aug. 23: Rapira, Aifory Pro (Sooty Ltd.), ABCeX (Nueva Cryptologia S.A.S DE C.V.), WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto INC., Tradex (Brightum LLC), Monease Ltd, BitPapa, Exnode/Exnode Pay (Arvix), HTX (Huobi Global SA) and EXMO Ltd.

Research firm Elliptic identified Bitpapa, ABCeX, Exmo, Rapira and Aifory Pro as enabling ruble-to-crypto conversions, including through USDT-linked virtual cards, that Russian users relied on to move around Western sanctions. Compliance firm TRM Labs has documented earlier UK designations naming HTX, EXMO and BitPapa, a separate government action that predates the EU package. Neither firm's findings are the basis for any of the 16 names on Binance's list.

EXMO Ltd appears to have already wound down operations. UK sanctions froze roughly 29% of user funds, leaving customers holding IOU tokens instead of their balances.

HTX has pushed back publicly since the UK action landed in May. "Same brand doesn't mean same legal entity, and it certainly doesn't mean the same asset systems," an HTX representative said, arguing the sanctions target a specific legal entity rather than the HTX brand. User withdrawals continue to function normally, the representative said.

Justin Sun, the Tron founder who sits on HTX's advisory board, said the company believes "in full compliance with all applicable laws and cooperation with law enforcement agencies worldwide."

A blockchain-forensics review found HTX's central wallet count on the Tron blockchain jumped from 32 to more than 750 in the two months after the UK sanctions, generating as many as a dozen new addresses in a single day. Vladyslav Kychkyruk of Global Ledger and Nick Smart of Crystal Intelligence, the analysts behind that review, said the pattern is unusual even among sanctioned platforms and makes tracing HTX's activity harder for investigators.

Every name on Binance's list now traces to a government designation: OFAC for Shelbit and Aban Tether Exchange, the EU's 21st package for the other 14. What doesn't trace to a regulator's timeline is Binance's own schedule. Binance paid $4.3 billion in November 2023 to settle U.S. money-laundering and sanctions charges, the largest such settlement in the industry's history. The notice does not say why the exchange split one EU action into two batches instead of implementing it at once.